Journal entries for October, 2006

Since I got up here I've been trying to more regularly. I don't know how to make many things yet, but I'm trying to learn new recipes little by little.

Last week, Bryan and Cat made egg-salad sandwiches, and graciously shared one with me. I'm a big fan of egg salad, so I decided to try making some myself sometime. Tonight I decided to give it a shot. It's not a complicated recipe, of course, but the first time I do anything I'm always timid and certain I'm going to screw something up.

The first step was boiling the eggs. It sounds like an easy enough process, but after I had warmed the eggs up to room temperature I realized I don't have a metal pot. It seemed like re-refrigerating the eggs wouldn't be good for them, so I decided to soldier on. The only thing I had that was deep enough was the glass mixing bowl from my electric mixer. I decided that I'd be able to lift it off of the stove safely despite the lack of handles, but I wasn't sure if the glass was safe to use on the stovetop (If you're reading this soon after I posted it, you may see evidence of my hesitation in my Google searches in the sidebar). Wikipedia has a picture of water being boiled in a glass pot, so I decided it was OK.

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When I first moved here, I discovered that the internet connection offered by the apartment complex is really slow and unreliable, but other providers aren't allowed to offer service here so there aren't any real alternatives. I was considering starting a petition to convince them to allow outside service, but I didn't ever get around to it. Today I learned that the apartment complex is being sold, and as of next month we will be allowed to have whatever cable, phone, internet, etc. service we want. Awesome. The lesson to be learned is: If you want something to change in your life, just sit back and wait for it to happen on its own.

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It's official — the Evo is sold, and I'm holding the check in my hands. As much as I loved that car, it's an incredible relief to be rid of the financial burden. I ended up letting it go for $23,000 — a ridiculously low price for that car, especially considering the inflated price of all cars in Puerto Rico. But I'm OK with that. The economy in PR is just not very good right now, and it was pretty clear that most people just couldn't afford to spend that kind of money on a sports car. And I did still get money back above what I owed on the car, so it's hard to feel too upset about the price.

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Now that I've got my scanner set up, I'm finally able to start scanning some of the Polaroids and film from my visit to Clemson a few weeks ago. The first ones up are the 4x5" Polaroids I shot with Jenn and Alia with the Pink Cow. I'm pretty happy with how they came out — I think I'll this Polaroid back will be the primary way I use the camera. It really doesn't make much sense to use a handheld 4x5" camera for regular film — if I'm just taking snapshots, I may as well use a smaller, less unwieldy camera, and if I want high-quality images, then I'll use the real view camera mounted on a tripod. The Polaroid back turns the handheld camera into a fun way to take nice-looking pictures and see them right away.